


Call of chaos, chaos of a call

by DGshoe



Series: Black Wings of Rebellion [3]
Category: Persona 5, Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kariya has a reason to worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-07 20:28:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20823329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DGshoe/pseuds/DGshoe
Summary: Kariya liked both his day job as a Reaper and his night job as a bartender, nevermind that by this point they're almost the same.





	Call of chaos, chaos of a call

**Author's Note:**

> _dies_ Holy fuck didn't this one come crashing on my brain with a huge ass hammer telling me to be written.

Kariya loved the streets.

Now, that wasn't a surprise to any who knew him. That was the only reason he didn't accept promotions after all. Uzuki had enough ambition for the both of them, anyways. But ever since Shibuya's big C became _ Tokyo's  _ big C, Kariya felt like a kid running around in a toy store. Rediscovering the town, exploring narrow streets and shortcuts, plotting new ways to erase players. The good stuff.

Today's mission was to beat some noise in Yongen. Not much, but it was a good way to see who's small fry and who's dangerous to pick a fight with. What really bugged Kariya there was that the number of politicians and authority figures in the RG that got to play the Game grew in the past years.

Kariya couldn't do much though. He didn't have a lead and if his hunch was right the cops were either a part of it or had their hands tied.

Just another day in the life of a Reaper, though. But the nights? Ah, weren’t those  _ interesting _ .

Since the Unification, the Dead God’s Pad began functioning as an RG bar in Shinjuku, apparently because some grunt managed to sell the place in Shibuya that the Composer was gonna use to an ex-yakuza. Obviously most of its clients had some ties to the UG, but the occasional plain human was a nice distraction. Actually, when Kariya began this side job as a bartender he wasn’t expecting to be this entertained. Some of its stories were certainly good to hear. Stories from the streets of all over Tokyo, a nice way to feed his action-starved self, even if he wouldn’t remember most of it later.

When Goro Akechi walked into that bar though, now that night Kariya wouldn’t forget.

It was very close to midnight, Kariya was cleaning some glasses (never let it be said that he didn’t take his job seriously), the bar wasn’t full but the amount of Reapers in one place would have any Player begging for mercy. The beats coming out from the jukebox in the back made the place your usual Red-Light district fine establishment. And the door opened to reveal the Detective Prince 2.0 in the flesh. Kariya whistled.

“No drinks if you’re under 20.” Kariya said after Akechi took a seat by the counter.

“I don’t intend to drink. I’m waiting for someone.” The kid replied with politeness. “I’m sure you know of me, so don’t worry about my well-being.” He added with a steely stare that was worthy of a Contributor.

“Relax, kid. I wasn’t gonna try and shoo a detective away.” Kariya answered nonchalantly. “‘Sides I might be more worried about why would you want to meet here.” And that was a honest remark. Not a single Reaper would want any involvement with the police if possible, and for the few men who were entrusted with knowledge of the Game, the feeling was mutual. Kariya wouldn’t be surprised if someone tried to talk the kid out of it.

“I hope for your sake that you won’t try to find out.” His gaze hadn’t receded. “It would be bad if you incited the wrong person’s ire.” Yup. Definitely a Contributor. Kid killed like it was breathing.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Was Kariya’s way of ending the talk. Right on cue another person came into the bar and lo and behold! The winner of the last Game was the one to grace this hall with her presence!

“How?!” Akechi was so dumbstruck at her he even lost his composure. She probably was one of his Contributions, then. And by his reaction she wasn’t the one to initially contact him. Wasn’t this going to be a fun night?

She carefully walked towards the counter, wary of Kariya (not that he could blame her) and sat beside Akechi.

“Akechi-san. I don’t think we met before, and I fear you won’t hear from me again after tonight.” She started, straight to the point, and produced some papers from the case she had on herself. “Here is everything I gathered about my attempted assassination.” The stress in the word attempted indicated it was very successful. If you knew about the Game, of course. “I found traces indicating that the SIU director is involved and there seems to be some relationship with Okumura’s preparations for a political debut. I’ve spent the past five days gathering as much information I could. It isn’t much, I know, but I have faith you will be able to look into it in more depth.”

Kariya would have snorted at the irony. A previously dead woman asking her assassin to investigate her death. He would have laughed at the “detective’s” astoundment, and would internally crack as many jokes as possible.

If, that is, Kariya hadn’t just found a lead on the surge of Players over the past few years.

The cogs on his brain were turning. Conspiracies weren’t Kariya’s forte but it was obvious that the growing number of dead politicians and entrepreneurs was no coincidence. That said, this was his very first time hearing about big names such as Okumura, and it’s possible link to that phenomenon. The Conductor wasn’t any subtle about his own worry on the matter and, according to him, the Composer didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary either.

But all of them, the woman in front of him included, died due to a mental shutdown, psychotic breakdown, or were in the vicinity of those who suffered one. And if Akechi could do that without the  _ big C  _ noting, then they had a problem in their hands.

The problem in question snapped out if his, admittedly well concealed, stupor quickly; picked up those papers and smiled. “I will look into it as soon as possible.” And Kariya knew the kid realized he almost fucked up when he closed his mouth quickly right as he was about to say something else. “I suppose our meeting is finished.” He stood up and bowed. “I will exact justice upon the men responsible for this, lady.” And walked hastily towards the door.

“Smooth.” Kariya said when he left, then turned to the woman. “Don’t worry about me. I’m here as a bartender and I stick to this job.” He smiled. “You want some of our special whisky? On the house for our most recent winner.”

She rubbed her temple, sighed, and said. “I’ll be out of town in a few hours anyways. Gimme your strongest booze.”

“As you wish ma’am.” Kariya answered. “You sure that was a good idea? Kid looked like he saw a ghost.” Which translated to ‘He’s pretty sure you died.’ in Game speech.

“No one in the Game could scan him.” She picked up the glass Kariya placed on the counter “Might as well talk to him at least once.” And downed it in one go. “Well, that’s the last of my business in town.” She said standing up.

“Good luck out there.” Kariya waved at her as she left. “And try to not die again.”

She chuckled. “I will.” And then left.

“Well, time to give the higher ups a reason to worry.” Kariya said with a sigh and dialed the Conductor’s number. Tomorrow was gonna be a long-ass day for sure.

**Author's Note:**

> Now that I have spent all my excuses to avoid the main plot, this is the moment where I start begging for my muse to console me, or kill me, whichever comes first.


End file.
